• The man who lives in Kiembeni separated with his wife five years ago and was left with three daughters in his care now aged 12, 10 and six.
• He has been accused of raping the firstborn.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
@Yobranmos4
Police in Kisauni are holding a man who has allegedly been raping his daughter for three years.
The man who lives in Kiembeni separated with his wife five years ago and was left with three daughters in his care now aged 12, 10 and six. He has been accused of raping the firstborn.
On Thursday, he was accosted by residents and beaten up.
Kiembeni Child Development Centre project director Eddah Achola on Sunday told the Star a relative of the man raised the alarm after he heard the 12-year-old girl complain about the man.
“The relative came to us and told us he heard the girl cry that the man is beating him yet he has been sleeping with him,” Achola said.
She said speculation about the man raping his daughter has been rife for three years now. The abuse allegedly began when the girl was in Standard 3. She is now in Standard 6.
Kisauni subcounty police commander Julius Kiragu said police arrested the man and is being held at the Kiembeni police station. However, the girl is missing.
“We are now looking for the girl because without her statement it will be difficult to do this case,” Kiragu said.
Kiragu said police have taken the other two girls to a rescue centre in Utange.
“It is said the man has hidden her somewhere but has refused to say where she is,” Achola said.
Muslims for Human Rights children and gender officer Topister Juma said cases of child abuse have been treated casually by the community for a long time.
“I am glad that the community stood up against this man. However, they would have reported the matter to police earlier instead of beating him up,” Juma said.
She said the difficult part now is to find the victim of defilement and make her talk.
“In most of these cases, the victims are naturally intimidated and hold back, especially because the perpetrator is someone they had trusted all their lives,” Juma said.
She said there is a need for more rescue centres in Mombasa with counsellors to help the victims overcome the trauma.
The two other daughters are said to be either unaware of the incidents or are too scared to talk.
In such cases, Juma said, perpetrators mostly get away with the crimes because of lack of sufficient evidence, due to late reporting when physical evidence has usually disappeared.
“In some cases, they drag in court for too long until the victim, because they are small children, forget some of the details of the case, which is then thrown out on technicalities,” she said.
The gender officer called on communities to report any suspicious activities with children early enough.
“In this case, a village elder was apparently aware of the allegations but did not report because they were waiting for evidence,” Juma said.
“We need to have a lot of awareness on GBV as a community, especially on defilement cases,” she noted.
Achola, who is also a social worker, said the arrested man has also been beating his firstborn daughter.